Category: CamelBak

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CamelBak Ultra LR and Marathoner

Check out this great review of the CamelBak Ultra LR and Marathoner from GearFlogger.com

CamelBak Hydration Vests

Ultra LR

The sheer variety of hydration options these days is overwhelming, but you can rest assured that however you hydrate, Camelbak has a solution for you. Their Ultra LR (pictured) and Marathoner hydration vests solve the same problem in two different ways.

Both vests have an overall low profile and very useful (why don’t more packs have these?) wide shoulder straps with a good-sized mesh pocket on each. The pockets are big enough for food or extra water, cameras, cell phones, even a compact wind jacket. The fit is snug and contoured, with not one but two sternum straps to really dial it in. Runners, bikers, scramblers and anyone who moves around a lot will appreciate the fit.

Marathoner

Both Camelbaks have 70oz. hydration bladders, but where the Marathoner uses a standard vertical carry format, the Ultra LR carries lumbar style, horizontally. Because of this the Ultra LR also has a hip belt,unlike the Marathoner. The other big difference is the cargo capacity. The Ultra LR has a larger main pocket and adds two medium pockets on the padded hip belt.Both vests use Camelbaks excellent delivery systems, with Antidote reservoirs, Big Bite valves and Quick Link fast connectors between the tube and bladder. Both the Ultra LR lumbar vest and the standard format Marathoner are excellent solutions. If you’re a traditionalist wanting to go uberlight, the Marathoner is for you. If you want to pack more gear and distribute the weight around a lower center of gravity, check out the Ultra LR. If there’s some other combination of capacity and carry style you desire, check out Camelbak’s web site and prepare to get dizzy with options.

For more check out this video of Seth and Azul from CamelBak running through the packs. (pun intended)

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Inside CamelBak’s Lab

Recently, Stephen Regenold, editor of GearJunkie took a trip to Petaluma, CA to check out CamelBak’s Headquarters and Lab.

Check it out:

Hydration Experimentation: Inside CamelBak’s Lab

Hydration of a sort is often on the mind of a visitor to the Petaluma, Calif., area, which is the headquarters of CamelBak Products LLC. But we’re not talking bike bottles or water from a hydration bladder sucked through a hose. Based in the sunny, rolling hills of California’s wine country, Petaluma is a destination or jumping off point for seekers of local grapes and white and red varietals.

But hydration for active types is very much a part of the local economy, too, as CamelBak Products occupies a giant office building on the edge of a nature preserve. Inside, you’ll see a museum display to CamelBak products of old. (Did you know the company’s first reservoir was made from a medical IV bag!) Showrooms in the building are stocked with to-be-released packs and hydration gear. There’s a big open office area where business is done and in the center of the space sits a good, old-fashioned laboratory to all things hydration.

R&D director Jeremy Galten inspects UV-light unit

Last week, on a visit to the Bay Area, I drove north to tour CamelBak for a look at prototype products and the company’s lab. With the lab manager Kevin Ostrom and R&D director Jeremy Galten as tour guides we probed at pressurized bottles in a heat test, fired up a drill press, and welded a CamelBak bladder with radio-frequency waves. “No lead apron needed,” Ostrom assured as he flipped a switch and the unit started to hum.

CamelBak Products LLC headquarters building in Petaluma, Calif.

During a three-hour visit I got a glimpse at a line of prototype running products (stay tuned for details in late June!) and saw a gigantic reservoir that can hold gallons of liquid. There was a spread of military-spec bladders impermeable to chemical attacks. (“Years and years in development,” Galten exclaimed.) Despite a request, the company did not allow me to load a file and “print” a concept bottle in its refrigerator-size 3D machine, which wields plastic sheets and whizzing arms to produce life-size and three-dimensional product prototypes in minutes.

Pressure test! Oversized CamelBak bladder put under watch

We ended the day with an hour-long road bike ride, gearing up with new CamelBak items and then clipping in to pedal a common company lunch route. We coasted through Petaluma and then uphill on a rutted road, the waft of agriculture and wine country on the air. I down-shifted on an incline and took a sip from my hose — plain, cold water flowed from my reservoir, not wine.

—Stephen Regenold is editor of GearJunkie.

Metal die cast for CamelBak bladder
Pro bike teams to astronauts use CamelBak products

 

 

 

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SUP Hydration

As we enjoy a gorgeous day in Seattle, we can be hopeful that Spring may finally be here or at least not too far off. If sunshine has you reaching for your stand up paddleboard and about to hit the lake don’t forget to stay hydrated. Check out the paddle specific packs from CamelBak.

The Molokai is designed for a couple hours on the water with a 70oz Antidote resevoir. It’s stuffed full of features like a paddle holster, safety whistle and its all built out of salt water friendly materials.

Molokai

  • 70oz/2L Antidote reservoir with Quick Link
  • Paddle holster
  • Safety whistle
  • Salt water friendly materials
  • Stretch overflow materials
  • Can be worn in conjunction with Lumbar PFD
  • Open mesh air channel back panel
  • Custom fit tension adjust harness with cargo pockets

Check out more about it here.

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Hydrating the Pros

Even the pros deal with dehydration. It is important to keep your body healthy and hydrated. Especially as you are hopping on the bike thats been sitting the garage all winter for those first few rides of the spring. Check out a few Pro cyclists chatting about some of the science about how they test their level of hydration.

You don’t have to be a pro or a scientist to stay on top of hydration though. Just grab a good bottle and drink often. Check out the Podium bottle from CamelBak for a great bike bottle for your next ride. Here’s a bit more about it.

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CamelBak All Clear

Thirsty? How about turning any water, whether it be from the tap in Guadalajara or a backcountry stream in the Rockies, into potable water. CamelBak’s got your bak. Just bring along the All Clear and you’ve got clean safe water anywhere.

Check out the video below for some more info.

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CamelBak Pit Boss

The weekend is nearly upon us and winter is still far from over. There are plenty of turns still to be had in the backcountry, fill up CamelBak’s Pit Boss with all your gear and 100oz of water and start earning your turns. Here’s CamelBak’s Seth and Azul to tell you more about the Pit Boss.

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CamelBak Gambler

Check out CamelBak’s new sidecountry winter pack. It is called the Gambler.

Gambler

CamelBak has a new ski pack, the Gambler (above), for sidecountry excursions. It’s a low-profile, hydration pack designed for chairlift access sidecountry excursions that require minimal cargo and emergency essentials. It’s equipped with a 3-liter (100 oz) Antidote Reservoir and is designed to carry a shovel, avalanche probe, and skins, because regardless of how you access avalanche terrain, you still need to be prepared.

 

For more on new products from winter OR check out Trailspace.com